Golf club



P. E. DUTCHER GOLF CLUB Filed Sept. 8. 1923 INVENTOR DUTGHER, a citizenof Patented Nov. 11, 1924.

0 F F I C E PIERPONT E. BUTCHER, OF UPPER MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY.

GOLF

Application filed September To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PIERPONT E. the United States, residing at UpperMontclair, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Golf Clubs, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention has as an object the minimizing of the retarding effectof the air not so much at the time of impact with the ball as during thegreater portion of the swing preceding this impact. This is illustratedin accompanying drawings in which Figure l is a top view of the clubhead and part of the shaft such as would be seen by the player when theclub is in position just behind the ball.

Figure 2 is a section on the horizontal axis A A of Figure 1.

Figure 3 isa front view of head and part of shaft looking directly atthe face of club.

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic representation of the relative positions theclub head assumes during that portion of the swing imlmediatelypreceding its contact with the Figure 5 represents a cross section ofthe neck of the club on the line n n of Figure 3. As indicated inFigures 1 and 3, the club may be made in any of the usual types ofconstruction with ashaft 1 inserted in a socket 2 of the neck 3 of thehead 4 and held there by Inc and a wrapping 5 or by other means. e clubhead has a striking face 6 of usual form with protecting corner insertof hard material 9, but the shape of the head difi'ers materially fromany heretofore used in that it tapers away from the plane of face in anoutward direction at an acute angle horizontally. as indicated in Figure1 by the horizontal axis of this taper A A and the line E, F,representing the horizontal projection of the plane of face. Similarlythe head tapers downwardly backwards in a vertical plane at an acuteangle to plane of face as indicated in Figure 2 where A, A, is the axisof this vertical taper and F, F, a line representing the verticalposition of plane of face.

This taper in vertical plane so that the axis A, A,.is at an acute angleto plane of face, is used so as to more nearly line this axis withdirection of club head travel particularly at beginning of downwardswing,

direction of motion head, the axis of CLUB.

s, 1923. Serial No. 661,607.

i. e., from a point above players head to about Waist level. During thisportion of the stroke the club head is not being swung in a circularpath but in an approximately elliptical path.

During a large part of the downward swing, the handle or upper end ofthe club shaft precedes the club head as the latter is dragged or pulledaround. While almost impossible to illustrate, the action will bereadily seen by anyone who knows the game. This action causes the topside 8 of the club head 4'to tend to feel the pressure of the air.slanting as described, this face is presented to the air in a directionmore nearly in line with direction of movement and the air resistancethus decreased.

The neck3of the club has a tapering rear end as shown in Figure 5 andthe axis of this taper N,, N,, is substantially parallel to the axis ofhead A A Figure 1. I

The reason for the taper in a horizontal direction at an acute angleoutwards to plane of face is indicated in Figure 4 where the solid linedrawing represents the head at time of impact with ball and the dottedlines represent various positions of the head during a portion of thestroke preceding impact. The line R R indicates the approximate radiusthrough which the club head travels and also the general direction oftravel. In making a golf swing, both in the backward swing and in theforward swing, the wrists of the player roll over to a considerableextent so that they may be in a position where they have maximumstrength and not in terfere with each other. This results in the clubhead turning ovpr to such an extent that a short distance back of theball the horizontal axis A Figure 5) corresponds closely with thedirection of travel R Now it is a well known fact in aero dynamics thatthe axis of a tapering section, to have minimum air retardation orresistance must correspond closely to the line efiect breaks down. FromFigure 5 it will be seen that the axis A A does so correspond duringthat part of the swing By having the axis A, A,

A and consequently the parallel axis of neck N N otherwise the streamsome distance before impact but that it does not correspond at time of.impact. In the usual form of stream line or tapered club face andcorresponds to direction oftravel taper is at right angles to at time ofimpact but not during the portion of stroke preceding impact. It isduring the portion of swing preceding impact that the acceleration ofthe club head is secured and it is at this point that minimum airresistance is desirable, for the speed of head attained at that time canbe continued at time of impact even if the air resistance be increasedsomewhat at that instant.

In this club I do not use a shaft having a cross section of tapered orstream line form as I prefer the usual round form, both because it iseasier to make and apply and because it has a more uniform spring andtorsion.

It is obvious that various changes may be resorted to in materials usedand methods of construction as well as minor changes in form withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of my invention and hence I do notwish to be limited to the details herein shown and described except asthey may be set forth in the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A golf club head having a striking face, the portion of the head backof the face tapered, the horizontal axis of this taper at an acute angleto plane of face and at an obtuse angle to horizontal projection ofshaft.

2. A golf club head havinga striking face, the rearward portion of thehead tapering, the horizontal axis of this taper being at an acute angleto plane of face and, measured in a rearward direction, at an obtuseangle outwardly to horizontal projection of shaft; the vertical axis ofthis taper being at an acute angle to plane of face.

3. A golf club head having a striking face, the rearward portion of thehead tapering, the horizontal and vertical axes of this taper both beingat acute angles to the plane of face and at obtuse angles to shaft.

4:. A" golf club with a head having a striking face and a neck, the neckhaving a stream line horizontal cross section, the major axis of thissection being at an acute angle in an outward and rearward direction tothe plane of the face.

5. A golf club comprising a shaft, a head, a striking face, the headhaving a horizontal cross section of a stream line shape whose majoraxis is at an acute angle to plane of face, and measured in a rearwarddirection, at an obtuse angle outwardly to horizontal projection ofshaft, a stream line section vertically through the horizontal axis, theaxis of this vertical section being at an acute angle to the plane? offace.

6. A golf club as in 5 and in combination a neck having a stream linehorizontal cross section the major axis of this section being parallelto themajor axis of horizontal section of head.

PIER'PONT E. DUTCHER.

